Srinagar, Apr 10: Following a Pakistan-mediated ceasefire in the US–Israel–Iran war, Iran has halted planned peace talks with the US after deadly Israeli strikes on Lebanon killed over hundred people and left many injured, according to a report by Indian Express.
The fragile two-week ceasefire between Washington and Tehran is facing its most severe test yet, less than 48 hours after its inception. Tensions have reached a boiling point as Iran announced the re-closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a move triggered by a massive Israeli air campaign in Lebanon that killed over 100 people on Wednesday.
Earlier, Pakistan said Lebanon Prime Minister Nawaf Salam had sought Islamabad’s support for bringing ⁠an ​immediate end to the attacks targeting ​Lebanon ​and its people ⁠over a phone call with Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif. However, after a call to “get rid of European Jews’ by Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja, Israel has questioned Islamabad’s neutrality as a mediator, the report said.
In a post on his social media platform, US president Donald Trump said Iran was failing to honour the understanding on keeping the strategic waterway open for global Oil traffic. “Iran is doing a very poor job — dishonourable, some would say — of allowing Oil to go through the Strait of Hormuz. That is not the agreement we have!” he wrote.
Meanwhile, Iran said it will allow no more than 15 vessels a day to pass through the Strait of Hormuz under the ceasefire ⁠agreement ​it agreed with the United States, Russia’s state TASS news ​agency quoted ​an unnamed ⁠senior Iranian source as saying on Thursday as per the report.
Latest developments
Iran is learnt to have decided to suspend all negotiations in Islamabad till the ceasefire deal is extended to Lebanon. Israel, however, has said it is willing to negotiate with Lebanon but it is not part of the US-Iran ceasefire deal. As such, bombing continued on Friday.
Israel confirmed the assassination of Ali Yusuf Harshi, the personal secretary and nephew of Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem, during a high-intensity raid on Beirut.
Hezbollah retaliated, marking its first strike since the ceasefire announcement, launching a barrage of rockets into northern Israel and citing the “massacre” in Lebanon as justification.
